The race for California’s top cop focuses on abortion, gun control and crime.
By Eric London
If you are not a California voter in November 2014, you can no longer be surprised by the most contentious election of the year. It has been the most contentious campaign in the nation this year, with the Republicans now controlling the state Legislature and the state Supreme Court and a Republican governor running for re-election.
The stakes are also at the highest political level, with this election serving two crucial functions for President Obama. First, the contest for the open U.S. Senate seat in California is going to help determine which party controls that chamber for the final two years of this presidential term — and which party controls how much influence the president can have over the legislative branch.
The stakes for the presidential race are also high, but at a much lower level. Whoever gets reelected will be the incumbent running for re-election to a new term and have to worry about his or her party’s national image going into the midterm elections. This is the first time in history that a major-party presidential candidate has fought two state contests simultaneously, and it is certain to be the most contentious election in the nation this year.
But despite the heightened tensions, there is a long (but not insurmountable) path to California’s top office.
California has been a Republican state since 1920. Since 1964, Republicans have held both the governorship and both houses of the state Legislature. When the Republicans take over the Senate this year, they’ll be the minority and will have to work to get their way on issues like gun control and abortion. But before that happens, the state will be holding its primary, along with the national election, on the same day. In this contest, the Republicans will face a very different electorate than the one they saw in their primary, which saw a more diverse electorate — about 57 percent nonwhite voters cast ballots in the 2014 GOP contest, up from about 38 percent in 2012. There will also be a greater crossover of voters, with nearly 60 percent of black voters casting ballots this year, compared to just more than 50 percent in 2012.